Watching
by Suk-fong
Summary: I am always watching.Which is why I am THE Hyūga Neji’s training partner. I watch things they don't want me too. I watch things hurt them but they pretend they don't. But now, I want to be watched. Watch me please. NejiTen, SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno.


I am always watching.

Which is why I am THE Hyūga Neji's training partner. Well, okay. I'm probably the only one that lets him use Eight Trigrams Palms Heavenly Spin attack on me. But back to the watching part.

I'm not an attention-seeking girl. Instead, I'd rather be in the background helping Ino, Sakura, and even Hinata have the limelight. I don't want the fame. But I watch things that they don't want me to. Not embarrassing stuff, although I watch that too. No, I'm talking about the things that they pretend to laugh off, or not notice but they hurt and cut deep. That's when I, Tenten, rush in and kick the asses of whoever hurt them.

Like Ino, for example. She's pretty and she knows it. No man has a chance with her. High maintenance goes to a whole new level with her. I know Shikamaru wonders why she's like that a lot.

I know why.

Her mother was Konoha's beauty queen, so she naturally thinks that Ino will be too. Forget that Ino might have to share that spot with Sakura. Sakura doesn't give a shit about beauty; she's all about being stronger, being better, so she never has to see the backs of her teammates. But Ino's not just beauty queen goddess, she's smarter than she lets on. I asked her why once, and she told me that when a girl could beat a guy at something the guy won't call. She dumbs herself down for love.

And love doesn't love her.

That's what she said one lonely winter night with me, Sakura, Hinata, chocolate and a few bottles of sake. "Shikamaru could never love me; he's too caught up with that damn sand nin." No matter what anyone said, we couldn't change the truth. Or at least whatever someone else thought was true.

No one else sees that Temari leeches herself onto Shikamaru's arm when she comes to town. And that Shikamaru always glances to see if Ino is around and if she isn't, he seems to droop, but if she is, and she's not quick enough to mask the flash of hurt on her face, he seems ashamed.

No one else sees him glare at the guys she dates, and if she's hurt by one of them, no one else sees him for lack of a better description bash their brains in, leaving Sakura with quite a mess at the hospital.

Ino, though she seems aggressive and straightforward, won't. She won't go and ruin Shikamaru's and Temari's non-relationship, because she thinks he's happy, and she loves him so much, she would give anything to keep him happy. Even if, in the end, he's not with her, and she's not happy. That's why she flits around from guy to guy, never getting serious, because it would hurt her. She doesn't want to hurt him.

But she does. By not being there when he needs her. She used to, she'd be there at three in the morning hugging him and saying, "Don't fall asleep, you lazy bum." But when Temari came she quit.

"Let his girlfriend see him off, I'm just his best friend." But no one believes her. And she doesn't believe it herself.

Sakura told me that Ino stayed over one night, when she knew Shikamaru had an S ranked mission. Ino knew when he was leaving, at one in the morning and she was up. Quietly, so as not to wake Sakura, but you couldn't be Tsunade's apprentice without being the best.

"Tenten, it was so sad. She was up, staring out my window, watching him walk towards the gate. And he _knew_ she was at my house, because he paused and looked at her. Tenten, she was _crying_! She was touching the window, crying. It was heartbreaking."

When she found out that the mission had gone badly, Ino ran, she ran away, out of the village. Away from everyone and anyone.

She went to a cliff overlooking the ocean, just like any romance movie. And cried, she cried into the wind when she thought no one could hear her scream for Shikamaru , yell at him that he was supposed to come back and marry Temari so he could live happily ever after. No one could hear her heart scream that it needed its other half.

No one but me. Okay, before people start accusing me, yes I eavesdrop, but I'm a ninja okay?

And no one but me watched Shikamaru struggling to walk into the village, but when he found out that Ino was missing, he ran like demons from Hell were chasing him to find her.

And no one but me watched Shikamaru hug her and kiss her and tell her that she's so troublesome. But Shikamaru held her close and whispered in her ear not to worry. He would never leave her. And he wiped away her tears.

Temari doesn't come to Konoha as much anymore.

And when she does, she glares at Ino when she watches them together. Because Ino makes Shikamaru happier than she could ever.

I watch Hinata and Naruto a lot too.

Opposites attract. I don't know if there is a definition for that, but if there is then I know three couples that are the definition.

But perhaps the most obvious one is Naruto and Hinata.

She has loved him since the first day at The Academy. True, I wasn't in her class, but I watched Neji interact with her when she first came to The Academy. He was a kind of rough gentle with her. He was polite but frosty.

He ignored Naruto, saying he was weak. He treated Hinata with fake respect, knowing, and saying she did not deserve to be heir to their family.

Maybe that's why Naruto and Hinata connect so well.

They've both suffered abuse.

Hinata at the hands of her father, Neji, and the rest of her clan, for her lack of power and drive. For her lack of skills and want to fight, she is, as Neji put it 'Unfit to be head of a clan'. That's untrue. Hinata, though she may not be as strong or skilled as Ino, Sakura, or myself, possess a hard drive. She will stand and fight when all seems lost. She is loyal to the end. And when someone she loves is threatened, she is tougher and scarier than Itachi.

Naruto at the hands of everyone in the village. When he was just an infant, he had the nine-tailed fox sealed in him. That demon destroyed so much of our village and killed so many that the vessel, an innocent boy, was blamed and hated for something he did not do, nor know that the beast was sealed in him. It would make anyone crumble under the constant hate and loneliness he endured, but not Naruto. No that made him stronger and more powerful. He looks out for the underdogs, the left behinds, the ones hated because of what they look like, what they are, what they have and what they don't have. He wants no one to feel the pain and loneliness he felt. That's why he would be a good Hokage. And I bet in a year or two he will be the Sixth Hokage with Hinata standing right behind him holding Naruto Jr.

Naruto maybe a little dense and slow when it comes with Hinata. He cannot ignore that he's always glancing at her, noticing her, worrying about her. And secretly beating up any man who dares to consider asking her out if Neji hasn't sent them to the hospital or an early death first.

After many hints, in which involved myself pinning him to a tree with kunai with '**ASK HINATA OUT**' painted on them, Neji cornering him in a dark alley corner, he asked her out.

–Flashback–

"Uzumaki."

"Hyūga." Naruto glanced down. He was being held by his collar against the wall. "Oi, let me down will ya?"

"Ask her out."

"What?" Naruto was always dense but that, that took the cake. I watched as Neji's eye twitched with frustration. I was hidden, watching and listening in a dignified manner.

Okay, my back was pressed against the wall and I was straining to hear what they were saying while holding a bag full of weapons, but still…

"Whadaya talkin' about? Ask who out? Tenten?"

–End Flashback–

I dropped my bag and Neji was gone. But not before blocking every chakra passage Naruto possessed.

But I think what really got it through his head was when Sakura and Sasuke took him to ramen.

–Flashback–

It was a pleasant day, and Miso Ramen was promised. That would make anyone suspicious. After Sasuke almost killed Sakura and Naruto when they tried to bring him back when they were fifteen, Sakura and Sasuke were almost never seen together. In fact, Ino told us that Sakura was avoiding him.

Small talk was ensured with an occasional 'Hn' from Sasuke when out of the blue, Sakura stood up and pounded Naruto over the head.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU NARUTO? ARE YOU SO STUPID YOU CAN'T NOTICE HINATA LIKES YOU? SHE LIKES YOU A LOT! SHE LIKES YOU SO MUCH SHE KINDA STALKS YOU!!!!!! I KNOW YOU LIKE HER SO STOP BEING AN IDIOT AND GO ASK HER OUT!!!" Every second word she hit him harder. She then turned on her heel and walked out of the stand.

"Ask her out." Obviously Sasuke thought this was a big enough issue to say more than a word. Then he too left.

His teammates' words and poundings haunting him and giving him a headache, he set out to find Hinata that second and asked her to at ramen with him.

Years ago, or a day ago she would have fainted at that thought, but this time, she said yes without fainting.

–End Flashback–

There was a bet going on at the Academy. Whether or not Sakura and Sasuke would get together.

They are yin and yang. Night and day, death and life. Angel and Demon. Back in The Academy, teachers noticed that Sakura was the only fan girl he could tolerate. Tolerate being he didn't hurt her or send her crying with one of his insults.

He said he couldn't care less if Sakura smiled at someone else or jumped off a bridge. But when she smiled or got hurt by any other man, he would lose it.

When Naruto and Sakura brought Sasuke back, Naruto with a broken arm, Sasuke with a concussion, and Sakura suffering huge blood loss and zero chakra, everyone knew that Sakura would not survive.

This time I didn't watch from the shadows, I was in the hospital room. I am not a Healer, or a medic of any kind, but I was there with Ino, Hinata, and most of the hospital staff, pumping as much of my chakra as I could into her, praying that she would live.

But at the end of the day, all we had to show was the still, empty body of the girl, no, woman we all tried to measure up to.

Hinata was the first to go home that first night. Naruto took her, whispering how it wasn't her fault. How she couldn't predict the future and how she couldn't be expected to save Sakura, when he himself couldn't.

Ino went next, but not before she flung herself on top of Sakura's body.

"NO! NO BILLBOARD!!! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO WAKE UP AND NOT DIE! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO MARRY THAT BASTARD WHO KNOCKED YOU OUT AND MADE YOU CRY EVERY NIGHT FOR TWO YEARS! SAKURA WAKE UP! DON'T–DON'T DIE! PLEASE!" She screamed, tears running down her face. It was a rude awakening that we are only teenagers, Sakura just seventeen. And Ino and Sakura were best friends for eleven years of their lives.

Shikamaru came and pried her off. He held her as she cried in his shoulder and they walked off too. But not before I heard Shikamaru tell her that Sakura was the strongest female kunoichi in over forty years, and if she died like that, then everyone else was doomed.

Ino was still crying as Shikamaru led her to his apartment.

Neji stood with me, watching me as I stood in front of her body.

"It still stings doesn't it?" I said bitterly "We're shinobi, we know we're gonna die in the line of duty, but it just never really settles until it's you or one of your best friends…or your lover that's there on the bed, with those damn machines beeping, telling you that you're still alive…they're still alive, but for how long? How long can we cheat death? How long can we stay alive?"

"It is unknown to me, Tenten. I am sorry I can't give you the answer." Neji said quietly.

"Yeah, well it's not like anyone knows the answer." I said sadly, watching Sakura. I sighed, "C'mon let's go."

I turned and walk out, following Neji. I thought I heard something move in the room and looked back.

I watched Sasuke emerge from the shadows and look at Sakura. I watched as he gently cupped her face in his hands. His lips moved into unreadable words. He looked fondly at her, and he saw how broken she looked and I watched as he seemed to break. His hands started glowing and then…

"Tenten, are you coming?" Neji asked me. I turned away, leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone, and nodded.

"Yes."

News came from the hospital that Sakura's chakra was replenishing itself and she was healing herself subconsciously. Something only the strongest medic-nin could do. She was aided by the top medics.

People were amazed that she was still alive. She would have died, had Sasuke not sacrificed some of his chakra secretly. I wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't watched it for myself, firsthand. It was proof that Sasuke cared greatly for her.

But no one knows that. Because after Sakura recovered and was released from the hospital she was gone. She trained with the ANBU, she was at the hospital, she took every mission possible from killing a warlord to weeding a garden. She partied with us when she found time. But she never visited Sasuke in his cell for the three months he was held waiting for his trial.

I've watched Sasuke in battle and he is fierce. He is probably the strongest shinobi I can name. Sakura, Naruto, Neji and few others top that list as well. But Sasuke is the best. The cell could not hold him. He could have broken out as simply as a child could open a door. But he stayed in.

Many ask why. Why would he stay in? Even the non-shinobi know the _legend _of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke. Of the obvious love between them and how they would have been married as soon as they were able to if the Uchiha massacre hadn't happened.

"They are obviously meant to be. But yet she doesn't visit him in his cell and he doesn't leave. Why?" I watched a woman ask her husband as they passed Sakura, Hinata, Ino and I. Sakura pretended not to hear, but I watched as her eyes seemed to lose their sparkle.

I…can't say I know the answer, but I watched the results of what happened many nights ago. How Sakura poured her soul out to him and he rejected her. How he knocked her out and laid her on a cold hard, stone bench in the middle of the night. That caused a rift. Trying to kill Naruto and Kakashi and herself probably didn't help with the matter as well.

Some couples, no matter how much they love each other, how much they need each other, how much they sacrifice for each other, how many times they'd die to save the other, can't. They can't fix what broke, they can't mend the relationship. Because some people are so damn stubborn.

Like Neji.

I watch him tense up and start the Byakugan; I drop into a fighting stance.

I always am watching. I've been watching my best friends and their love lives. But the person I want to watch me never watches me.

No. I am always watching. But for once I want to be watched.

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**Thank you for reading Part on of the Perceive series. Look for parts two, three and four coming soon. And Thank You to my wonderful betas, and friends **.x.Neko.x. .x.Kiiss.Kiiss.x. **who got me hooked on Naruto and manga in general, and I.Death.chan who took time despite her computer troubles and betaed it for me. Plus **.x.Neko.x. .x.Kiiss.Kiiss.x. **I know you don't like ShikaIno so saying you loved it really meant something! ;P**

**Please review and thanks again!**

**Love, Suk-fong**


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